SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket Lands Well, Destroyed Anyway

This afternoon, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk confirmed that they've had a successful soft-landing of their Booster rocket for their most recently launched Falcon 9 craft. Musk went on to note that "if all goes well, we'll be able to land a stage at Cape Canaveral back by the end of the year. The landing of the booster rocket took place in the Atlantic – it was successful, but a storm has destroyed it.

Musk also made clear today that the soft-landing was successful in that it deployed legs and "sat there for about 8 seconds before we lost contact." He made clear that this was "better than expected," especially given the weather conditions.

During the live press conference with Musk today, Musk suggested that at the time the craft landed, no organizations were willing to head to see to get it. "We know with certainty that it landed vertically with legs deployed," said Musk, also suggesting that this "bodes well for achieving re-usability."

Landing in the water like this – not entirely destroyed – would require "a couple of months to refurbish for re-use," said Musk, but a landing on land, at the launch site, would mean that it would likely "be ready for re-launch the same day."